Join Us For The Adventure Of A Lifetime - Rally the Globe
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A brand-new event on the Rally the Globe calendar will take us from Belgium s rally capital of Ypres to Istanbul.
Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey
ON THE ROAD TO THE EDGES OF THE ORIENT
Recce Day 1 We had already driven a route from Prague to esk Krumlov back in August 2020 so today was all about re ning it. The weather was grey and wet as we left Prague and we soon decided the rstregularity was far too easy and deleted it. The other sections were top class however and they, combined with some great tests, will present a good challenge after the rest day. Our rally hotel was HOME ABOUT RALLIES MEMBERSHIP RALLY HIGHLIGHTS NEWS CONTACT US still closed so we stayed in the lovely town of Budweis where the beer, of course, was great.
Recce Day 2 We visited UNESCO World Heritage Site, esk Krumlov, rst thing next morning and started the road book from the main square where our rally hotel is situated. An excellent, new, gravel section was rst o followed by a fairly long test round a few farm buildings. Then a regularity to a remote border crossing into Austria. This was unmanned, although it won t be on the event, and our PCR tests went unchecked. Austria looked as immaculate as ever even on a gloomy afternoon and another decent regularity on super smooth roads before descending to the River Danube, which will be our frequent companion for the next two weeks.
Recce Day 3 Very early on our third day the snow started to fall and didn t really stop. Minor roads were impossible so having found a charming co ee stop in a mountain Gasthof we descended to the plain and entered Hungary. Immediately over the border the appearance of the towns, villages, farms, roads and people, was totally di erent from what we had seen before. The town of Koszeg has a pretty square and we arranged for the cars to be parked there while competitors have lunch in one of the adjacent restaurants. Forest regularities and an intriguing gravel test took us to Sumeg and our hotel.
Recce Day 4 We awoke to a cloudless blue sky and bitterly cold temperatures. The previous afternoon we had visited a tremendous permanent race circuit and tried to rent it for a test at the end of Day 9. This was impossible but an agreement was reached to open Day 10 with it so we retraced our steps a little to integrate it into the route. It promises to be a busy morning with the circuit, a Rallycross track and a testing gravel regularity before a caf lunch overlooking Lake Balaton. After lunch we are in the Great Hungarian Plain where, as expected, the countryside is at, and the roads are straight. Just outside the city of Pecs, thanks to our friends in the local motor club, we hope to have a short hill climb followed by a twisty, and wonderfully hilly, regularity..
Recce Day 5 A short way out of town we found a long, twisty regularity before going back down to the plain, where everything was shrouded in fog. We stopped in Baja, again on the Danube. This city is known to Mark Appleton and me as it was a stop on John Brown s 1998 London to Cape Town Rally. We stopped at our original choice for the rally, the Novotel in Szeged, and by this time snow was falling heavily, everything was shrouded in fog and the maps were out to help stitch the new plan together.
Recce Day 6 From Szeged it was a short run to the border with Romania where once we had our COVID vaccination certi cates scanned we were quickly on our way. Our original plan was for the rally to do a test or two near the city of Arad and then sleep in Timisoara. The latter city turned out to be surrounded by miles of industrial warehouses and having seen a decent looking hotel in Arad plans were changed yet again.
Recce Day 7 Jim and I had two nights in Arad to let me catch up on route notes, maps and future plans. We had got into Romania, which already felt like a victory, and in the evening found a very pleasant pub attached to a micro-brewery with decent food and no goulash to be seen. Bliss!
Recce Day 8 Back in Arad, where the streets were treacherous with ice, we searched for a city o cial to help arrange things in the area. I was sent from o ce to o ce and saw levels of bureaucracy that I thought had disappeared with the fall of communism. Finally, after 90 minutes of queues and disinterested shrugs I found a charming multilingual woman who worked directly for the mayor. After a tour of the rather grand City Hall, we were o on our way through snow covered roads happy in the knowledge that Arad would work for us. The afternoon got better and better; a tremendous, long section through a forest was followed by an amazing hunting lodge in the middle of nowhere.
Recce Day 9 With everything under a thick covering of snow we headed o to cover the end of Rally Day 12 in reverse before returning to make the road book notes. The snow got increasingly deeper and just as we were considering a U-turn we got stuck, and properly so. It was minus nine degrees and it took a full hour before we nally got some traction from a wooden pole wedged under the front right wheel. Finally free, we turned around, contemplated a warming brandy, but decided the mountainous section of Rally Day 13 could be explored. And what a section it was. The Transalpina is Romania s highest road, built by the military in 1938 and opened to tra c in 2012, although for safety reasons it is still closed from 18h00 to 08h00 each night
Recce Day 10 Today we descended from the mountains and onto the plain heading for the capital, Bucharest, but not before discovering some interesting back roads and a couple of test venues. Our arrival in Bucharest was surprisingly simple and the luxury of the JW Marriott hotel was much appreciated after some hard days on the road.
